CELTIC ARE THROUGH

Celtic successfully negotiated the passage into the next round of the UEFA Champions league qualifiers following a 1-0 win over Elfsborg on aggregate. The club managed a 0-0 draw to complete this victory on aggregate. After the match, manager Neil Lennon has said that he is already looking at signing a number of key players in order to strengthen the team. Despite winning the double last season, Celtic have lost key players in the last few weeks. This includes striker Gary Hooper, who has moved to the Premier league with Norwich city. Midfielder Victor Wanyama has joined Premier league club Southampton.

Celtic have a significant amount of transfer fund to spend after these departures and Lennon is looking to replace the stars who have left the club. Wanyama was sold for around £ 12 million, while Hooper got the club a significant transfer fee as well. Celtic have made a couple of signings in this transfer window, but Derk Boerrigter is probably the only first-team player of the lot. The play-offs for the Champions league group stages will be taking place shortly. Celtic will be learning their opponents when the draw is held.

The Scottish club will be confident of having an easy draw because they are in the pot as champions.

“We are going to work hard to get a few players in, the players are running on empty. These qualifiers are tough and we have two games to go before the group stages. It was a huge result. It is nerve wracking at this time. I was nervous all day. It was a tough night, we showed great character. It was a tough game and you have to give credit to Elfsborg, they gave it everything,” said Lennon. Celtic are once again the favourites to win the league title.

CELTIC STAY LOCAL

Celtic will not be going round the world as part of a preseason tour, but instead, they will be heading south in order to prepare for the new season. Manager Neil Lennon has welcomed this change by saying that this would help him achieve better results. He is against the policy of world tours as part of the pre-season because it does little to help improve the condition of players. Instead of going round the world on world tours, it would be beneficial if clubs spent their training region nearby.

Celtic enjoyed a lot of success last season and Lennon has put a lot of it down to the pre-season tour they had in rural Germany. Lennon has admitted that going round the world may be better for the club in terms of financial results, but it does not help improve the condition of the players, which is essential over the course of the campaign. Celtic managed to win two major trophies, while also reaching the knockout stages of the Champions league as well. Celtic will once again be returning to the same place where they had their pre-season last time around and Lennon is delighted to be back in Germany.

After being linked with several clubs like Everton over the summer, it looks like Lennon will stay at Celtic for the time being.

“Those tours were productive from a financial point of view but maybe not from a footballing point of view. There was a lot of travelling involved. I remember on one trip we missed four or five days’ worth of training because of the travelling. To be fair to the board, they’ve backed us again by allowing us to return to Germany. This worked for us last season and it got us the results we wanted,” said Lennon.

MOYES SPECULATION

The future of the Everton manager, David Moyes, has come under intense speculation due to the Scots the season to sign a new deal until the end of the season. Moyes has been at the club for more than a decade, but his hands have been tied severely in the last few years due to the financial constraints of the club. Now, the former Preston North End manager has revealed that he will be making a decision on his future depending on the transfer budget of the club in the summer.

Moyes has revealed that he has been speaking with the chairman Bill Kenwright for the last few months regarding the money that he will have at his disposal in the summer. However, he is yet to be given a breakdown of the budget, although Kenwright is thought to have given him a strong indication of the same. Moyes has said that he will always have the club’s interests in his mind before taking a decision. Hence, fans should not be questioning his stance when it comes to signing a new contract. Moyes was recently booed by his own fans after the 3-1 defeat against Wigan in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The 49-year-old has pointed out to the passion that he showed against Manchester City as an indication that he cares for the club. “I think we are making progress. What I mean is, I’m waiting on some information coming back to me and we’ll talk again when we get all that information. I’ve been given some indication of budget, but I’ve not been given the breakdown of it. I’ve been speaking to the chairman for three or four months, it’s been moving along, and all the things I’m doing are for the best of Everton,” said Moyes ahead of the Premier league weekend.